Cendrillon (The Royal Opera, 2011)
6 October at 2pm and 7 October at 8am

Laurent Pelly’s production of Massenet's opera stars Joyce DiDonato as Cendrillon, Alice Coote as Prince Charming and Eglise Gutiérrez as Fairy Godmother. Bertrand de Billy conducts The Orchestra of The Royal Opera House..

Parsifal tells the story of the Grail Community who are in anguish because their ruler Amfortas bears an incurable wound. Only a ‘poor fool, enlightened by compassion’ can save the ailing ruler. A mysterious youth arrives knowing little about himself, it is Parsifal - could he be the person to bring salvation to Amfortas?

Wagner first read the poem that inspired Parsifal in 1845 but the opera was many years in the making, only receiving its premiere four decades later at the Bayreuth Festival in 1882.

Langridge’s new production for The Royal Opera marked the bicentenary of Wagner’s birth.

Elektra has been lucky in the studio, so much so that a new contender for the throne has to have some special attributes. Does Christian Thielemann have what it takes? Yes, in short. The Dresden Staatskapelle plays for Thielemann with a savage grace. Tempi are not rushed but tension ebbs and flows at key moments, details are exemplary and illuminating, and where horror is needed it lurks just below the surface: the stomach-churning procession that heralds Klytämnestra’s entry for example, or the cumulative explosion of Elektra’s final dance. Orchestrally this recording is up there with the best. In the casting department, we are spoiled by René Pape’s rock-solid, implacable Orest, Anne Schwanewilms's magnificently neurotic Chrysothemis, and Waltraud Meier’s compellingly sung - and acted - Klytämnestra. Evelyn Herlitzius is Europe’s go-to Elektra and in this live performance her commitment is total, her attack fearless and the occasional misfires doesn't derail her success. With the maids and other small roles well sung, there’s no weak link and the eruption of applause at the conclusion tells of an astonishingly intense night. I was unable to break off listening, and I can’t really pay this recording a greater compliment.

If you need a palate cleanser after the horrors of Elektra, look no further than René Jacobs’ new recording of Handel’s Orlando. A counter tenor turned conductor, Jacobs has made recordings of a huge range of baroque music. In opera he is the perfect singer’s conductor and, in the studio, he retains an exhilarating sense of theatre throughout. Birds sing, winds howl, but never at the expense of the musical experience, which is perfectly judged. The star name on the cast list is Bejun Mehta, who takes the title role. Mehta’s Orlando won plaudits at the Royal Opera House in 2007 when he led the revival of this production (in 2003 he had sung Medoro to Alice Coote’s Orlando). Technically assured and dramatically involved from the get-go, it is a very welcome document to have his performance capture on disc. Beyond Mehta the cast is superb, with Jacobs regular Sunhae Im as Dorinda and the excellent Sophie Karthäuser as Angelica. The oddly named B’Rock Orchestra prove themselves an exemplary period band. This brings the number of commercially recorded Orlandos in the catalogue to three, and I would happily place this new recording in pole position.

When Mehta sang Orlando with The Royal Opera, his Medoro was Anna Bonitatibus. A regular and acclaimed Cherubino in David McVicar’s Le nozze di Figaro, the mezzo is blessed with a richly expressive voice enlivened with a quick and attractive vibrato. Sony Music has lavishly packed a two-CD set of Ms Bonitatibus in a range of arias all taken from operas inspired by Semiramis, the legendary Assyrian queen. Many of us know Rossini’s take on this (and Bonitatibus gives a brilliantly sung 'Bel raggio lusinghier') but much of this repertory is unknown and several of the tracks amount to world premiere recordings. Covering well over a century of music, this is an extraordinary document exceptionally performed by both the mezzo and the excellent Accademia degli Astrusi and La Stagione Armonica under Federico Ferri. A serious achievement, both musically and academically.

As part of our series of recommended recordings from the Royal Opera House Shop, this month we take a look at releases from two great singers and a conductor with strong connections to the Royal Opera House.

Juan Diego Flórez breaks new ground with L’Amour, his tenor still as centred and thrillingly agile, but now showing a touch of steel that - as recently hinted - will allow him to move into a broader repertoire. L’Amour is the kind of record you thought might never be made again – a recital of French lyric arias, previously so much the territory of Nicolai Gedda and Alfredo Kraus, but here superbly sung by Florez and showing immense promise for some heavier roles: his two excepts from Werther make one really want to hear him restore this role to its rightful voice. This is an hour of unalloyed pleasure.

Francois Girard’s production of Parsifal at the Met does not stake new dramatic or interpretive milestones, instead he allows the story to unfold organically in vistas of breathtaking beauty that echo the music without dictating its intent.

The cast fielded here could have made Parsifal work on a bare stage, but allied to Girard’s hieratic symbols and ever-shifting projections, it grows into something of overwhelming beauty and power: the last moments are, as any great Parsifal should be, transcendently lovely. Kaufmann’s Parsifal must now be without competition: singing with immense strength and dramatic intensity, he is exceptional in all his key moments, and never less than immersed in the whole - this is no star turn. René Pape’s Gurnemanz is a known entity and again he leads the field today in this marathon role, singing with beauty and detail throughout, Peter Mattei towers as the ideal Amfortas, Evgeny Nikitin excels as Klingsor, and Katarina Dalayman offers a Kundry that is perhaps a little below the achievements of her colleagues but is nonetheless superb. Daniele Gatti conducts, taking the Met Orchestra places it has not been for a while. I would urge you to own this Parsifal: it is a very special experience.

Jonas Kaufmann’s take on Winterreise might split opinion: those who will hear it live at the Royal Opera House in April will doubtless make their own minds up, but as an audio experience, Kaufman seems to me ideal in this rare outing onto the lieder stage. His gritty tenor perfectly mirrors the angst-ridden narration, the voice opens up thrillingly at key moments, and above all the drama is seen as a linear experience: each song is given its own treatment but not at the expense of the bigger work. Is he too theatrical with it? Perhaps, if you prefer your lieder more intimate, but for me Kaufmann catches both the naivety and despair central to the text and to Schubert’s agonized settings. Helmut Deutsch is a perfect accompanist, supporting, colouring and adding to the implacable flow of the cycle.

Stephen Langridge's new Royal Opera production of Richard Wagner's final opera Parsifal opens on 30 November. Before curtain up, we went into rehearsals for a glimpse of the new production.

Parsifal is based on Wolfram von Eschenbach’s medieval romance Parzifal. It tells the story of an innocent young man who arrives at the Kingdom of the Holy Grail. As well as an inventive new staging designed by Alison Chitty, Covent Garden audiences will be treated to some of Wagner's most gorgeous music including Kundry's Act II seduction of Parsifal and a score inspired in part by church music. The production stars Simon O'Neill, Angela Denoke, René Pape, Gerald Finley and Willard White. All performances will be conducted by Antonio Pappano.